Permissions for partially autonomous vehicle operation

ABSTRACT

A vehicle system includes an autonomous mode controller and a processor. The autonomous mode controller is programmed to control a host vehicle in a partially autonomous mode. The processor is programmed to identify a driver, determine whether the driver is authorized to operate the host vehicle in the partially autonomous mode, and disable the partially autonomous mode if the driver is not authorized to operate the host vehicle in the partially autonomous mode.

BACKGROUND

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has defined multiple levels ofautonomous vehicle operation. At levels 0-2, a human driver monitors orcontrols the majority of the driving tasks, often with no help from thevehicle. For example, at level 0 (“no automation”), a human driver isresponsible for all vehicle operations. At level 1 (“driverassistance”), the vehicle sometimes assists with steering, acceleration,or braking, but the driver is still responsible for the vast majority ofthe vehicle control. At level 2 (“partial automation”), the vehicle cancontrol steering, acceleration, and braking under certain circumstanceswithout human interaction. At levels 3-5, the vehicle assumes moredriving-related tasks. At level 3 (“conditional automation”), thevehicle can handle steering, acceleration, and braking under certaincircumstances, as well as monitoring of the driving environment. Level 3requires the driver to intervene occasionally, however. At level 4(“high automation”), the vehicle can handle the same tasks as at level 3but without relying on the driver to intervene in certain driving modes.At level 5 (“full automation”), the vehicle can handle almost all taskswithout any driver intervention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example vehicle with an autonomous operationsystem for activating certain partially autonomous modes of operationfor a particular driver.

FIG. 2 illustrates example components of the vehicle, including examplecomponents of the autonomous operation system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example process that may be executed by theautonomous operation system to determine whether to permit certainpartially autonomous operations for a particular driver.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some drivers may not fully appreciate the limits of autonomous vehicleoperation. For example, the driver of a vehicle that can autonomouslypark itself may not realize that he or she has to manually find aparking spot and manually align the vehicle relative to the parking spotbefore activating the park assist feature. Therefore, drivers who arenot familiar with the different levels of autonomous operation or thelimitations of particular autonomous features may, on the one hand, relytoo heavily on the vehicle to perform certain actions automatically. Inother words, the driver may not provide a driver input needed by thevehicle for the partially autonomous operation. On the other hand, somedrivers may not rely enough on the vehicle to perform certainoperations, resulting in the driver providing unnecessary driver inputsto the steering wheel, brake pedal, or accelerator pedal, which mayinterfere with the vehicle's ability to perform certain autonomousoperations.

One way to address such issues is with an autonomous operation systemthat permits certain autonomous operations only when the driver isskilled enough to activate such operations. The autonomous operationsystem includes an autonomous mode controller and a processor. Theautonomous mode controller is programmed to control the vehicle in apartially autonomous mode. The processor is programmed to identify adriver, determine whether the driver is authorized to operate the hostvehicle in the partially autonomous mode, and disable the partiallyautonomous mode if the driver is not authorized to operate the hostvehicle in the partially autonomous mode.

The elements shown may take many different forms and include multipleand/or alternate components and facilities. The example componentsillustrated are not intended to be limiting. Indeed, additional oralternative components and/or implementations may be used. Further, theelements shown are not necessarily drawn to scale unless explicitlystated as such.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the host vehicle 100 includes an autonomousoperation system 105 for activating certain partially autonomous modesof operation for a particular driver. For example, the autonomousoperation system 105 may identify a driver, determine whether the driveris authorized to operate the host vehicle 100 in the partiallyautonomous mode, and either activate or disable the partially autonomousmode accordingly. In some instances, the autonomous operation system 105may identify the driver immediately when the driver enters the hostvehicle 100. Alternatively, the autonomous operation system 105 mayidentify the driver in response to the driver requesting that the hostvehicle 100 operate in the partially autonomous mode.

The autonomous operation system 105 may determine whether the identifieddriver is authorized to operate the host vehicle 100 in the partiallyautonomous mode according to permissions associated with the identifieddriver. The permissions may be determined by the autonomous operationsystem 105 based on the skill level of the driver, based on permissionsstored in a remote database, based on permissions granted by the vehicleowner, etc. For instance, the vehicle owner may upload permissions forthe driver to the remote database or an on-board vehicle database. Thisway, a vehicle owner may decide whether others (e.g., children,employees, etc.) who use the host vehicle 100 can operate the hostvehicle 100 in the partially autonomous mode.

Although illustrated as a sedan, the host vehicle 100 may include anypassenger or commercial automobile such as a car, a truck, a sportutility vehicle, a crossover vehicle, a van, a minivan, a taxi, a bus,etc. As discussed in greater detail below, the host vehicle 100 is anautonomous vehicle that can operate in an autonomous (e.g., driverless)mode, a partially autonomous mode, and/or a non-autonomous mode. Thepartially autonomous mode may refer to the SAE Level 2 mode of operationwhere the vehicle can control steering, acceleration, and braking undercertain circumstances without human interaction. The partiallyautonomous mode may further refer to the SAE Level 3 mode of operationwhere the vehicle can handle steering, acceleration, and braking undercertain circumstances, as well as monitoring of the driving environment,even though some human interaction is sometimes needed.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the autonomous operation system 105 may includeor work in conjunction with a communication interface 110, an occupantdetection system 115, an autonomous mode controller 120, and a processor125.

The communication interface 110 is implemented via circuits, chips, orother electronic components that can facilitate wireless communication.The communication interface 110 may be programmed to generate andtransmit messages according to any number of wireless communicationprotocols. For example, the communication interface 110 may beprogrammed to communicate in accordance with one or more of theBluetooth®, Bluetooth® Low Energy, Wifi, Dedicated Short RangeCommunication (DSRC) protocols. In some instances, the communicationinterface 110 may be programmed to communicate over a cellular orsatellite network. For example, in response to a command received fromthe processor 125, the communication interface 110 may be programmed towirelessly communicate with a remote server 130 storing a databaseassociating drivers to various permissions. The communication interface110 may be programmed to receive messages from the remote server 130 andforward those messages to the processor 125.

The occupant detection system 115 is implemented via sensors, circuits,chips, or other electronic components that can detect and identify anoccupant. In one possible approach, the occupant detection system 115may include a camera that captures an image of the driver and identifiesthe driver from the image. Another option may include the occupantdetection system 115 identifying the driver from a key the driver usedto access and start the host vehicle 100. Regardless of how the driveris identified, the occupant detection system 115 may output a driveridentification signal representing the identity of the driver. In someinstances, the driver identification signal may include uniqueidentification associated with the driver. The unique identification maybe a unique alphanumeric code assigned to the driver, and as discussedin greater detail below, may be used to identify the permissionsassociated with the driver.

The autonomous mode controller 120 is implemented via circuits, chips,or other electronic components that can control the host vehicle 100 infully autonomous or partially autonomous modes of operation. Forinstance, the autonomous mode controller 120 may be programmed toreceive signals from various sensors located on the host vehicle 100 andoutput control signals to various actuators that control, e.g., thesteering, braking, and acceleration in accordance with the sensorsignals received. The autonomous mode controller 120 may be programmedto control the host vehicle 100 to implement any one or more of the SAELevels of autonomous operation.

The processor 125 is implemented via memory 135, circuits, chips, orother electronic components. The memory 135 may store processor125-executable instructions and make such instructions available to theprocessor 125. The processor 125 may access and execute the instructionsto carry out various operations such as identifying the driver,determining whether the driver is authorized to operate the host vehicle100 in the partially autonomous mode, and either activating or disablingthe partially autonomous mode accordingly (i.e., based on whether thedriver is authorized to activate the partially autonomous mode).

The processor 125 may be programmed to identify the driver immediatelyupon the driver entering the host vehicle 100 or in response to a userinput requesting that the host vehicle 100 operate in the partiallyautonomous mode. The user input requesting that the host vehicle 100operate in the partially autonomous mode may be received via, e.g., auser interface (e.g., a touchscreen display) located in the host vehicle100 or a mobile device in communication with the processor 125 via,e.g., the communication interface 110. The processor 125 may beprogrammed to identify the driver according to a subsequent user inputprovided by the driver. Like the user input requesting the partiallyautonomous mode, the subsequent user input may be provided to the userinterface or the mobile device in communication with the processor 125via, e.g., the communication interface 110. The subsequent user inputmay be provided as a result of the driver selecting among a list ofpossible drivers and possibly providing credentials to, e.g., preventthe driver from lying about his or her identity. Another way to identifythe driver is via the driver identification signal output by theoccupant detection system 115. In some instances, the processor 125 mayrequest that the driver confirm his or her identity via a user input tothe user interface or the mobile device. Alternatively, the processor125 may identify the driver from, e.g., the unique identificationtransmitted by a key used by the driver to access and start the hostvehicle 100.

The processor 125 may be further programmed to determine whether thedriver is authorized to operate the host vehicle 100 in the partiallyautonomous mode. Determining whether the driver is authorized to operatethe host vehicle 100 in the partially autonomous mode may include theprocessor 125 querying an on-board database for permissions associatedwith the driver. Alternatively, the processor 125 may instruct thecommunication interface 110 to transmit the unique identification to theremote server 130 and query the database stored at the remote server 130for the permissions associated with the unique identification. Theprocessor 125 may receive the permissions from the remote server 130 viathe communication interface 110, and the permissions may indicatewhether the driver is authorized to operate the host vehicle 100 in thepartially autonomous mode. The permissions may be based on authorizationgranted by the vehicle owner and uploaded to the remote server 130 or anon-board vehicle database. Alternatively, the permissions may bedetermined by the processor 125 based on factors such as the drivingexperience of the identified driver, whether the identified driver hascompleted appropriate training on the partially autonomous modes ofoperation, or the like.

The processor 125 may be programmed to disable the partially autonomousmode if the driver is not authorized to operate the host vehicle 100 inthe partially autonomous mode. Disabling the partially autonomous modemay include the processor 125 outputting an autonomous mode disablesignal to the autonomous mode controller 120. The autonomous modedisable signal may prevent the autonomous mode controller 120 fromallowing the host vehicle 100 to operate in one or more of the partiallyautonomous modes. In some possible implementations, the autonomous modedisable signal may not prevent the autonomous mode controller 120 fromallowing the host vehicle 100 to operate in one or more of the fullyautonomous modes of operation (e.g., SAE levels 4-5) or non-autonomousmodes of operation (e.g., SAE levels 0-1). If the partially autonomousoperations are prevented, the processor 125 may command, e.g., the userinterface to present a notification to the driver indicating that thepartially autonomous operations were prevented and, in some instances,may further include an explanation (e.g., the driver lacks sufficientauthorization to operate the host vehicle 100 in a partially autonomousmode).

The processor 125 may be programmed to permit partially autonomous modesof operation at, e.g., the next key cycle or an updated authorizationgranted by, e.g., the vehicle owner. Permitting the partially autonomousmodes may include the processor 125 outputting a signal to theautonomous mode controller 120 that instructs the autonomous modecontroller 120 to permit partially autonomous modes of operation. Thesignal may in some possible approaches clear a flag set by theautonomous deactivation signal that previously disabled the partiallyautonomous mode of operation.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example process 300 that may be executed bythe autonomous operation system 105 to, e.g., activate certain partiallyautonomous modes of operation for a particular driver. The process 300may begin at any time while the host vehicle 100 is running. The process300 may run once or multiple times within a single key cycle.

At block 305, the autonomous operation system 105 identifies the driver.Specifically, the processor 125 may identify the driver according to thedriver identification signal, representing a unique identificationassociated with the driver, output by the occupant detection system 115.Alternatively, the driver may be identified in response to a user input,e.g., selecting the driver, or a unique identification associated withthe driver, provided to a user interface. In yet another alternative,the driver may be identified according to a key used by the driver tounlock or start the host vehicle 100. The process 300 may proceed toblock 310 after the driver has been identified. In some instances, thedriver may be identified after block 310, meaning that the driver isidentified in response to the autonomous operation system 105 receivinga user input requesting the partially autonomous mode of operation.

At decision block 310, the autonomous operation system 105 determineswhether the driver has requested a partially autonomous mode ofoperation. As discussed above, partially autonomous modes of operationmay refer to SAE Level 2 or SAE Level 3 modes of operation. Theprocessor 125 may determine that the driver has requested the partiallyautonomous mode of operation in response to the driver providing a userinput, requesting the partially autonomous mode of operation, to theuser interface, and the user interface transmitting the user input tothe processor 125. That is, the processor 125 may determine that thedriver has requested the partially autonomous mode in response toreceiving the user input. If the partially autonomous mode of operationis requested, the process 300 may proceed to block 315. Otherwise, theprocess 300 may continue to execute block 310 until the partiallyautonomous mode of operation is requested (i.e., the user inputrequesting the partially autonomous mode of operation is received).

At decision block 315, the autonomous operation system 105 determineswhether the driver identified at block 305 is authorized to operate thehost vehicle 100 in the partially autonomous mode. The processor 125 mayquery the database stored at the remote server 130 or an on-boarddatabase for permissions associated with the unique identificationassociated with the identified driver. Querying the database on theremote server 130 may include the processor 125 commanding thecommunication interface 110 to transmit the unique identificationassociated with the identified driver to the remote server 130 andreceiving, via the communication interface 110, permissions associatedwith the unique identification from the remote server 130. The processor125 may process the permissions to determine whether the driver isauthorized to operate the host vehicle 100 in the partially autonomousmode. If not, the process 300 may proceed to block 320. If the driver isauthorized to operate the host vehicle 100 in the partially autonomousmode, the process 300 may proceed to block 330.

At block 320, the autonomous operation system 105 disables the partiallyautonomous mode of operation. For instance, the processor 125 may outputan autonomous mode disable signal to the autonomous mode controller 120to disable the partially autonomous mode of operation. The autonomousmode disable signal may prevent the autonomous mode controller 120 fromallowing the host vehicle 100 to operate in one or more of the partiallyautonomous modes. In some possible implementations, the autonomous modedisable signal may not prevent the autonomous mode controller 120 fromallowing the host vehicle 100 to operate in one or more of the fullyautonomous modes of operation (e.g., SAE levels 4-5) or non-autonomousmodes of operation (e.g., SAE levels 0-1).

At block 325, the autonomous operation system 105 notifies the driverthat the partially autonomous mode of operation has been disabled. Forinstance, the processor 125 may command, e.g., the user interface topresent a notification to the driver indicating that the partiallyautonomous operations were prevented and, in some instances, may furtherinclude an explanation (e.g., the driver lacks sufficient authorizationto operate the host vehicle 100 in a partially autonomous mode). Theprocess 300 may end after block 325.

At block 330, the autonomous operation system 105 permits the partiallyautonomous mode of operation. Permitting the partially autonomous modesmay include the processor 125 outputting a signal to the autonomous modecontroller 120 that instructs the autonomous mode controller 120 topermit partially autonomous modes of operation. The signal may, in somepossible approaches, clear a flag set by the autonomous deactivationsignal that previously disabled the partially autonomous mode ofoperation during, e.g., a previous iteration of the process 300. Theprocess 300 may end after block 330.

In general, the computing systems and/or devices described may employany of a number of computer operating systems, including, but by nomeans limited to, versions and/or varieties of the Ford Sync®application, AppLink/Smart Device Link middleware, the MicrosoftAutomotive® operating system, the Microsoft Windows® operating system,the Unix operating system (e.g., the Solaris® operating systemdistributed by Oracle Corporation of Redwood Shores, Calif.), the AIXUNIX operating system distributed by International Business Machines ofArmonk, N.Y., the Linux operating system, the Mac OSX and iOS operatingsystems distributed by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., the BlackBerryOS distributed by Blackberry, Ltd. of Waterloo, Canada, and the Androidoperating system developed by Google, Inc. and the Open HandsetAlliance, or the QNX® CAR Platform for Infotainment offered by QNXSoftware Systems. Examples of computing devices include, withoutlimitation, an on-board vehicle computer, a computer workstation, aserver, a desktop, notebook, laptop, or handheld computer, or some othercomputing system and/or device.

Computing devices generally include computer-executable instructions,where the instructions may be executable by one or more computingdevices such as those listed above. Computer-executable instructions maybe compiled or interpreted from computer programs created using avariety of programming languages and/or technologies, including, withoutlimitation, and either alone or in combination, Java™, C, C++, VisualBasic, Java Script, Perl, etc. Some of these applications may becompiled and executed on a virtual machine, such as the Java VirtualMachine, the Dalvik virtual machine, or the like. In general, aprocessor (e.g., a microprocessor) receives instructions, e.g., from amemory, a computer-readable medium, etc., and executes theseinstructions, thereby performing one or more processes, including one ormore of the processes described herein. Such instructions and other datamay be stored and transmitted using a variety of computer-readablemedia.

A computer-readable medium (also referred to as a processor-readablemedium) includes any non-transitory (e.g., tangible) medium thatparticipates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that may be read bya computer (e.g., by a processor of a computer). Such a medium may takemany forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media andvolatile media. Non-volatile media may include, for example, optical ormagnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile media may include,for example, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typicallyconstitutes a main memory. Such instructions may be transmitted by oneor more transmission media, including coaxial cables, copper wire andfiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled toa processor of a computer. Common forms of computer-readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any otheroptical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium withpatterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any othermemory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

Databases, data repositories or other data stores described herein mayinclude various kinds of mechanisms for storing, accessing, andretrieving various kinds of data, including a hierarchical database, aset of files in a file system, an application database in a proprietaryformat, a relational database management system (RDBMS), etc. Each suchdata store is generally included within a computing device employing acomputer operating system such as one of those mentioned above, and areaccessed via a network in any one or more of a variety of manners. Afile system may be accessible from a computer operating system, and mayinclude files stored in various formats. An RDBMS generally employs theStructured Query Language (SQL) in addition to a language for creating,storing, editing, and executing stored procedures, such as the PL/SQLlanguage mentioned above.

In some examples, system elements may be implemented ascomputer-readable instructions (e.g., software) on one or more computingdevices (e.g., servers, personal computers, etc.), stored on computerreadable media associated therewith (e.g., disks, memories, etc.). Acomputer program product may comprise such instructions stored oncomputer readable media for carrying out the functions described herein.

With regard to the processes, systems, methods, heuristics, etc.described herein, it should be understood that, although the steps ofsuch processes, etc. have been described as occurring according to acertain ordered sequence, such processes could be practiced with thedescribed steps performed in an order other than the order describedherein. It further should be understood that certain steps could beperformed simultaneously, that other steps could be added, or thatcertain steps described herein could be omitted. In other words, thedescriptions of processes herein are provided for the purpose ofillustrating certain embodiments, and should in no way be construed soas to limit the claims.

Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description isintended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many embodiments andapplications other than the examples provided would be apparent uponreading the above description. The scope should be determined, not withreference to the above description, but should instead be determinedwith reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope ofequivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is anticipated andintended that future developments will occur in the technologiesdiscussed herein, and that the disclosed systems and methods will beincorporated into such future embodiments. In sum, it should beunderstood that the application is capable of modification andvariation.

All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their ordinarymeanings as understood by those knowledgeable in the technologiesdescribed herein unless an explicit indication to the contrary is madeherein. In particular, use of the singular articles such as “a,” “the,”“said,” etc. should be read to recite one or more of the indicatedelements unless a claim recites an explicit limitation to the contrary.

The Abstract is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain thenature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with theunderstanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scopeor meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing DetailedDescription, it can be seen that various features are grouped togetherin various embodiments for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure.This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting anintention that the claimed embodiments require more features than areexpressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claimsreflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of asingle disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are herebyincorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing onits own as a separately claimed subject matter.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A vehicle system comprising: an autonomousmode controller programmed to control a host vehicle in a partiallyautonomous mode; and a processor programmed to identify a driver,receive a user input selecting the partially autonomous mode ofoperation from available modes of operation that include a fullyautonomous mode of operation, the partially autonomous mode ofoperation, and a non-autonomous mode of operation, the partiallyautonomous mode providing for control of one of steering or accelerationwithout controlling the other of steering or acceleration; determinewhether the driver is authorized to operate the host vehicle in thepartially autonomous mode based on permissions set by a vehicle owner,and disable the partially autonomous mode but continue to allow each ofthe fully autonomous and non-autonomous modes if, according to thepermissions set by the vehicle owner, the driver is not authorized tooperate the host vehicle in the partially autonomous mode, wherein thepermissions are associated with the driver.
 2. The vehicle system ofclaim 1, wherein the processor is programmed to identify the driver inresponse to receiving the user input.
 3. The vehicle system of claim 1,wherein the processor is programmed to identify the driver based atleast in part on a unique identification associated with the driver. 4.The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the processor is programmed toidentify the driver based at least in part on a driver identificationsignal received from an occupant detection system.
 5. The vehicle systemof claim 1, wherein the processor is programmed to identify the driverbased at least in part on a key used by the driver to start the hostvehicle.
 6. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the processor isprogrammed to determine if the driver is authorized to operate the hostvehicle by querying a remote server for the permissions set by thevehicle owner and associated with the driver.
 7. The vehicle system ofclaim 6, further comprising a communication interface, and whereinquerying the remote server includes the processor instructing thecommunication interface to transmit a unique identification associatedwith the driver to the remote server.
 8. The vehicle system of claim 7,wherein the permissions are further associated with the uniqueidentification and wherein the processor is programmed to receive thepermissions associated with the unique identification from the remoteserver via the communication interface.
 9. The vehicle system of claim1, wherein disabling the partially autonomous mode includes theprocessor outputting an autonomous mode disable signal to the autonomousmode controller.
 10. A method comprising: identifying a driver of a hostvehicle; receiving a user input selecting a partially autonomous mode ofoperation from available modes of operation that include a fullyautonomous mode of operation, the partially autonomous mode ofoperation, and a non-autonomous mode of operation, the partiallyautonomous mode providing for control of one of steering or accelerationwithout controlling the other of steering or acceleration; determiningwhether the driver is authorized to operate the host vehicle in thepartially autonomous mode based on permissions set by a vehicle owner,wherein the permissions are associated with the driver; and disablingthe partially autonomous mode, but continuing to allow each of the fullyautonomous and non-autonomous modes, as a result of determining,according to the permissions set by the vehicle owner, that the driveris not authorized to operate the host vehicle in the partiallyautonomous mode.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the driver isidentified in response to receiving the user input.
 12. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the driver is identified based at least in part on aunique identification associated with the driver.
 13. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the driver is identified based at least in part on adriver identification signal received from an occupant detection system.14. The method of claim 10, wherein the driver is identified based atleast in part on a key used by the driver to start the host vehicle. 15.The method of claim 10, wherein determining if the driver is authorizedto operate the host vehicle includes querying a remote server for thepermissions set by the vehicle owner and associated with the driver. 16.The method of claim 15, wherein querying the remote server includes:transmitting a unique identification associated with the driver to theremote server; and receiving, from the remote server, the permissionsset by the vehicle owner and associated with the driver as a result oftransmitting the unique identification to the remote server.
 17. Themethod of claim 10, wherein disabling the partially autonomous modeincludes outputting an autonomous mode disable signal to an autonomousmode controller.
 18. A vehicle system comprising: an occupant detectionsystem programmed to identify a driver of a host vehicle and output adriver identification signal identifying the driver of the host vehicle;a communication interface programmed to communicate with a remoteserver; an autonomous mode controller programmed to control the hostvehicle in a partially autonomous mode; and a processor programmed toreceive a user input selecting a partially autonomous mode of operationfrom available modes of operation that include a fully autonomous modeof operation, the partially autonomous mode of operation, and anon-autonomous mode of operation, the partially autonomous modeproviding for control of one of steering or acceleration withoutcontrolling the other of steering or acceleration; identify the driverin response to receiving the user input based at least in part on thedriver identification signal, determine whether the driver is authorizedto operate the host vehicle in the partially autonomous mode by queryinga remote server with a unique identification for permissions set by avehicle owner and associated with the driver, and disable the partiallyautonomous mode by outputting an autonomous mode disable signal to theautonomous mode controller, but continue to allow each of the fullyautonomous and non-autonomous modes, as a result of determining that thedriver is not authorized to operate the host vehicle in the partiallyautonomous mode according to the permissions set by the vehicle owner.19. The vehicle system of claim 18, wherein querying the remote serverincludes the processor instructing the communication interface totransmit the unique identification associated with the driver to theremote server and receiving the permissions associated with the uniqueidentification from the remote server via the communication interface.